Rondo: “I’m thankful. I’m humble.”

The Celtics new $55 million man spoke today after practice about his new deal:

ARE YOU GLAD THE DEAL IS DONE?

"It’s not over with yet, I just signed the papers.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL?

"I'm definitely excited. I'm thankful. I'm humble. I'm very excited to be in this situation."

DOES ANYTHING CHANGE?

"Nothing changes, still got one goal in mind. It’s great to have
security and all but we are still focused on winning a championship.”

WERE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT THE MONDAY DEADLINE?

"Not necessarily, happiness is and I couldn’t deal without my
teammates. I’ve had great teammates the past four years and you know
when it’s all said and done, we’re still going to have relationships on
the court regardless of whatever certain guys make. The relationships
that you build with one another throughout these years and in the NBA,
you can’t compare it to money."

HAPPY ABOUT TAKING CARE OF FAMILY?

“Definitely, taking care of my family, that’s very exciting. If my
daughter doesn’t have to work she doesn’t have to work at all. I’ve got
the right people around me; I don’t plan on losing it. It’s a very
blessed situation.”

WERE YOU WORRIED ABOUT BEING ON A SHORT-TERM DEAL?

“It comes in the back of my mind, but other than that as far as not
playing I wasn’t really concerned with that, I was just concerned about
staying healthy throughout the season.

ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH BEING A CORNERSTONE?

Definitely, Wyc (Grousbeck), Danny and Doc all have the confidence
in me; you know that says a lot. They want me here obviously for a long
time; I’m excited to be here too."

HOW DID YOU MANAGE NOT TO LET THIS AFFECT YOU THE FIRST FOUR GAMES?

“I think just the timing. The time that we started to negotiate, it
was time for tip-off of the regular season, the Cleveland game or maybe
the day before but you know I had to focus on the start of the season.
We’ve had four games already so I didn’t have time to stress about it
and was focused on winning games.”

DID YOU AND YOUR AGENT BELIEVE THE CELTICS WANTED TO THE DEAL?

“Yes. I talked to Danny a couple of times, 3 or 4 times throughout
the last month. They were long conversations, I don’t want to go into
depth what was talked about but we were in the office for about an hour
each time and we expressed feelings and thoughts about the situation”